Cayman Captive Insurance Industry Buoyant

The Cayman Islands' captive insurance sector continues to grow, with 23 new licences granted during the first six months of the year.

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) said this exceeds the number of licences granted in the whole of 2015.

Ruwan Jayasekera, Head of Insurance Supervision at CIMA, said: "Historically, November and December are the busiest months in terms of new captive formations, and if the same applies to 2016, the year will be another phenomenal year for the jurisdiction in terms of new captive/(re)insurance company formations."

"CIMA is seeing a shifting trend in new captive/(re)insurance company formations, with more and more companies being formed to assume unrelated and non-traditional risks. Even with consolidation taking place throughout the healthcare system in the United States by way of mergers and acquisitions, it is encouraging to see the formation of new healthcare captives to write traditional med-mal liability insurance, as well as non-traditional risks, such as cyber risks and medical stop loss."

CIMA said its priorities for further developing the international insurance industry in the Cayman Islands will focus on the pursuit of Class C insurers and open market reinsurers. Currently there are 24 Class C insurance licensees in the territory, with two open market reinsurance companies.

CIMA said its other area of focus will be attracting hedge fund based insurance and reinsurance operations to the jurisdiction. Changes to the territory's insurance law to introduce ten-year work permits, together with other incentives to do more to bring reinsurance business to the Cayman Islands, have had some success, with the territory issuing its second Class D reinsurance licence in June.

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